Chippenham Town
Since promotion to the National South, Chippenham Town have posted consistent mid-table finishes except for one playoff campaign two years ago. Once again, the Bluebirds finished thirteenth for the third time in five seasons and although that was lower than their seventh-place playoff finish, the Wiltshire side were bang on par. After defeat away at Dartford in February, Chippenham Town were in a false position down in the bottom three knowing they had a bountiful of home games to play. Being a tough side to crack at Hardenhuish Park helped them go fifteen matches unbeaten and taste defeat just once in their final twenty fixtures. Adding a dab of gloss to their season, the Bluebirds set club records by reaching the F.A Cup second round and F.A Trophy third round.
2022/2023 Season
National South: 13th
F.A Cup: 2nd Round
F.A Trophy: 3rd Round
County Cup: Quarter-Final
Top League Scorer: Joe Parker (7 goals)
Manager – Gary Horgan
Two spells as a player with Chippenham Town, Horgan started his managerial career with the Bluebirds in style. When he joined from Hungerford Town in September 2016 it was only a season later when Horgan became part of the coaching team. Towards the end of the 2021/2022 campaign with six games to go he was appointed boss and took the Bluebirds from eleventh to the playoffs where they lost in the semi-final. Last season Horgan took Chippenham Town on a F.A Cup run to the second round and posted a typical finish for the Wiltshire club in the league.
Summer Transfers
Top scorer, Joe Parker will be playing National North football this season after his summer move further West. The Bluebirds have virtually traded with Bath City as Luke Spokes arrives from the Romans and Luke Russe goes the other way. Chippenham Town have also snapped up Tyreke Johnson from Woking, Luke Haines from Hereford, Tom Owen-Evans from Kidderminster Harriers and Freddie Grant from Farnborough. The Bluebirds have also snapped up Aaron Amadi-Holloway from Hereford and promoted four graduates from their academy.
| Transfers In | Transfers Out |
| Jake Evans (Hungerford Town) | Alefe Santos (Poole Town) |
| Tyreke Johnson (Woking) | Joe Parker (Gloucester City) |
| Luke Haines (Hereford) | Spencer Hamilton (Gloucester City) |
| Tom Owen-Evans (Kidderminster Harriers) | Luke Russe (Bath City) |
| Luke Spokes (Bath City) | Dan Griffiths (Penybont) |
| Freddie Grant (Farnborough) | Aaron Simpson (Salisbury) |
| Aaron Amadi-Holloway (Hereford) | James Walker (Hungerford Town) |
| Marcel Lewis (academy) | Tom Mehew (Havant & Waterlooville) |
| Otis Lewis (academy) | |
| Joel Manning (academy) | |
| Mal Nicholls (academy) |
Head to Head
Dartford wins: 5 / Chippenham Town wins: 3 / Draws: 4
Previous Matches
Dartford 2 – 0 Chippenham Town (11/02/2023 – National South)
Chippenham Town 2 – 1 Dartford (03/09/2022 – National South)
Dartford 0 – 0 Chippenham Town (12/05/2022 – National South Playoff)*
Chippenham Town 4 – 2 Dartford (12/03/2022 – National South)
Dartford 3 – 3 Chippenham Town (06/11/2021 – National South)
Chippenham Town 1 – 2 Dartford (27/10/2020 – National South)
* Chippenham Town won 3-2 on penalties
Next Meetings
Chippenham Town v Dartford – Saturday 7th October 2023
Dartford v Chippenham Town – Saturday 13th January 2024
Statistics
- Dartford’s clean sheet in the home fixture last season was their first against Chippenham Town since the first meeting in September 2017
- Dartford are unbeaten in three home league matches against the Bluebirds (W1, D2) and have only lost once in the league at Princes Park against the Wiltshire side (W2, D2)
- The Darts have lost their last two visits to Chippenham Town, but were unbeaten in the previous four (W3, D1)
Match Highlights – 2022/2023
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